Advice on arrest.. please
 

Hi, Sorry for posting such a deperessing message on my first time on here but really need some advice.. My boyfriend got into some trouble on Saturday night ( stupid I know) he hit another man there were other people involved and the man ended up with a broken leg and a cut eye. Anyway on Tuesday the police arrested my boyfriend and have detained him to appear in court Thursday morning.. I have since found out that a Denuncia has been made against my boyfriend. I have no idea how the legal system works here, will he be fined and released or sent to prison I am going out of my head with worry... please any advice would be gratefully appreciated..

Re: Advice on arrest.. please
 

Before he can receive any sentencing he will have to be found guilty, or admit guilt. You obviously know more about the situation than us....do you think guilty is the likely verdict? Does he have any mitigating circumstances? Do you know what he has been charged with? Was your boyfriend responsible for the broken leg or was that someone else in the group?

There is no "fixed penalty" for GBH/ABH/Common Assault/Affray or whatever it is that he has been charged with. Each case is judged on its own merits.

If you tell us a bit more about the circumstances we might be able to help a bit more regarding possible outcomes.

Re: Advice on arrest.. please
 

Might I suggest you contact the nearest consulate?

Re: Advice on arrest.. please
 

find a solicitor who speaks english to help. The deuncia is just a legal requirement before court proceeding can take place, it's basically a written complaint against someone.

Re: Advice on arrest.. please
 

Get yourself a solictitor pretty damn quick, or if you cannot afford one the court will appoint but that could take time. I don't want to get your hopes up, but I suspect he won't be held as Thursday should be a formality to present the charges.

What might be of interest to your case is to find out who the victim is. If it is any old Juan Smith, it should be a normal enough case. If it is a relative of someone rather important or influential in your town, then they will more than likely persue this from every angle they can.

In many cases like this, a cash settlement can make things disappear quite quickly.

Re: Advice on arrest.. please
 

What are you suggesting!?

Re: Advice on arrest.. please
 

He'll be moaning about loss of earnings (despite the fact that he may be on dole or he may be able to work anyway) and if a figure was reached that would be commensurate with that, you may find that the case will be dropped.

Also depends on exactly what he has been charged with.

Re: Advice on arrest.. please
 

Broken leg from a punch, pretty hard punch..........

Re: Advice on arrest.. please
 

Theres clearly more to this than meets the eye, who were the other people involved ?

Was the guy who was punched old, and broke his leg when he fell ?

Was it a group assault on this one person, resulting in the broken leg ? Violence more often than not is a group thing.

Who threw the first punch ?, from reading the original post it look's like it was your boyfriend, was it ?

Clearly the first place to go is a lawyer, and I would take advice about trying to bribe your way out this with a pinch of salt !

Also what are the Spanish law's on self defence (if that's what your claimimng), pretty sure they would be similar to British law's re reasonable force.

I think you need to give a far clearer, and truthfull account of what happened in ordeer to get the best advice on here, there' a lot of accumulated experience on this forum, and they can only help if your honest.

Re: Advice on arrest.. please
 

I think the best place for this discussion would be with a lawyer rather than on a public forum.

Spanish law can be harsh on any form of violance (more so than in Britain) so you need to make sure you say the right things and to the right people

Re: Advice on arrest.. please
 

Firstly Thank u all for your replies. To go into more detail the man who was hit is/was a friend he touched me inapropriately and my boyfriend saw red so hit him, the man then kicked my boyfriend and then my boyfriend hit him again and left.. there were 4 other lads that none of is know that saw the attack one of the men just ran up and started kicking the man who my boyfriend hit, I pulled this person away asking him what the hell he was doing but I think he was just a thug anyway he then dissapeared though I would know him if I saw him again. Then as i said before on Tuesady my boyfriend was arested I know for a fact that he did not break this mans leg but the man who was hurt is saying he knows there was another man involved but it was my boyfriend that broke his leg. Anyway he was in court this morning and I still have not heard anything after phoning just about everyone I can think of even the consulate.

Re: Advice on arrest.. please
 

Lot's of ambiguities in that post, first it was four people who joined in, then one.

Sure it wasnt your boyfriend mates ?

I think really you need to get to a lawyer, if your boyfriend was in court today, and you havent heard from him,he was most likely remanded in custody.

Have you given a statement to the Police, why havent you got a lawyer yet ?

Re: Advice on arrest.. please
 

her boyfriend would have been supplied with a duty lawyer for sure - and an interpreter if he doesn't speak spanish

Re: Advice on arrest.. please
 

Very definitely - I know this from the office!

Re: Advice on arrest.. please
 

one of my students is a duty lawyer locally - I checked with him

Re: Advice on arrest.. please
 

This doesn't always happen. A friend was wrongfully denounced a couple of years ago, given less than 24hrs notice to attend court and so had no time to find a lawyer of his own. No duty lawyer was offered in court and no interpreter either, nor would they adjourn the hearing so that he could find a lawyer and/or interpreter.
It was a complete farce...prosecution witnesses produced from nowhere...a ridiculously huge claim for loss of earnings (from bruising resulting from a fall to the ground, allegedly when tripped over by a dog which wasn't even his) etc and my friend had no means to defend himself, no chance to produce his own witnesses and so stood no chance. Result? Huge fine.

Re: Advice on arrest.. please
 

from what I understand it does for criminal cases - your example sounds more like a civil case

Re: Advice on arrest.. please
 

I can assure you it was not my boyfriends mates!! And as I previously said there was 4 in the group but only one that started kicking him.. I have no reason to lie I am asking for help.. The police have not been to see me or taken a statement which I do not understand. I have been calling all the local police stations and orihuela all day but nobody will tell me if he has been detained or not.. really do not know what else to do.

Re: Advice on arrest.. please
 

I think the advice of contacting a solicitor and maybe your consulate might be an answer.

Re: Advice on arrest.. please
 

OK Thanks. Does anyone know a number for the court in Orihuela I cannot seem to find one and after asking all the police they just give me another police station to call..

Re: Advice on arrest.. please
 

theer are several here on this paginas amarillas link

http://www.paginasamarillas.es/resul...&prov=ALICANTE

Re: Advice on arrest.. please
 

You really do need a solicitor. They will know exactly what to do. Don´t delay as it´s Friday tomorrow and he may be in custody for the weekend if you don´t sort it out quickly.

Re: Advice on arrest.. please
 

As Matt has advised twice..... HERE

Re: Advice on arrest.. please
 

One possibility may be a reconciliation, firstly by apology with the injured party, admitting some partial responsibility, which seems inevitable anyway and reminding him how you tried to assist.
Such an approach would probably have to be done through the respective lawyers.
Not sure if the parties concerned were resident or non resident.
If the injured party is non res.he may not be keen on the hassle of returning for the court case or trial and an arrangement may be more likely.

Also you yourself have the option of issuing a denuncia for the molestation, which from what you say was witnessed.
If the injured party faces charges himself regarding actions leading to the affray he is much more likely to reconsider pressing his charges.

Re: Advice on arrest.. please
 

Thank you.

Re: Advice on arrest.. please
 

If you want to contact me by private e-mail I can give you the telephone number of the office where I work - we have an office based between La Marina Urb and Guardamar. We have Spanish speakers who could probably ring the Court for you if you gave me more info. First interview is free but we would certainly help you on the telephone first at no charge.

Re: Advice on arrest.. please
 

Thank You so much that is very kind of you.. The British consulate called me back tonight they said that the court said they have no news yet and we need to call back Tommorow.. Do not really know what that means maybe they did not have time to see him today or it was adjourned? The British consulate are going to try again for me Tommorow..

Re: Advice on arrest.. please
 

Maybe it`s the privacy thing as they can only let you know what is happening if he tells them it`s ok for you to know.
I am sure they will let you know as soon as possible.

Re: Advice on arrest.. please
 

Mandie, hard lesson learned, wish you both well.